Scotland YES or NO

Very interesting piece thank you bags.

It appears to me that the "Yes" campaign supporters are so positive everything will turn out exactly as they wished planned that they might be heading for an incredible shock when it doesn't .

I am still hoping that the Scottish people will see sense and vote "No" .

What Salmond says now and what could happen in the future if Scotland gained independence could be two very different things. It will depend on pressure from elsewhere and the economy of a future independent Scotland.

If all his promises and visions come true he will go down in world history as a unique politician.

Where will the money to buy all the equipment for the army, navy and air force come from? By equipment I mean Ships and Planes, they take a long time to build and make, or will Scotland have borrow from England or even buy second hand

Maybe the existing stock of equipment would be shared out? After all, it is British equipment, not exclusively English.

I can just see the divvying out - "Bags I that aircraft carrier!" "No! you already have two. You can have another destroyer instead" "But I wanna 'nother aircraft carrier . ."

Very good Elegran

There aren't many aircraft carriers left to share out. Perhaps they could share out Admirals instead.

elegran

Rather than start another thread - this is an interesting discussion about an area of concern that I have - the cost if Scotland went independent.
Interesting quote from the Scots Nat finance chap - can anyone explain to me exactly how he works out that Scotland is more affluent than the UK average, or Japanese etc? Including all the oil revenues and distributing them amongst the population maybe?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27557547

Would "he's talking through his arse" explain it, jess?

Jess -not just John Swinney's figures.

See (also on the impartial? BBC website) for an explanation.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26614122

Cloud cuckoo land, seems appropriate to me.
I so wish this was all over. As stated before I am not a political animal at all, but this Independence nonsense frightens and saddens me. I only hope we don't end up like the island of Ireland.

YES, the United Kingdom Independence Party terrifies me too.

Me too! Why is it a good idea to have a referendum about the UK leaving the EU, but not about Scotland leaving the UK? I think I have said before, and I stand by it, that it was David Cameron who refused to have a second question on the ballot paper about greater devolution, short of independence. That would have won, it would seem, but we are not allowed to have that choice. Hope his decision comes back to bite him!

greater devolution, short of independence

Why 'short of independence'? I'm just curious.

Gain without pain - that's what it means!

Ana

Agreed.

https://fullfact.org/factchecks/will_scots_face_1000_in_extra_taxes_under_independence-29286

There are no government statistics to back this up yet, JessM.

Gain without pain - that's what it means!

Then I don't understand why they call it independence - if they're still going to rely on the UK to help finance them, how is that being independent

Not sure why but I'm flabbergasted that Scotland has elected a UKIP MEP ..... what happened there?

Why River? Seems logical to me as as many rules and regulations come from the EU parliament as from London. I've never understood why Mr Salmond wants to separate from England but not the rest of Europe. (I find it strangely hurtful and personal!)

As I said Dumpling I don't know!

I would have thought that minds would be concentrated on the independence issue and Scots would either vote SNP or Labour.

It leads me to be even more convinced that votes for UKIP are really protest votes not just against the EU but also the established parties.

Nfk I am sorry you feel hurt and believe me it is not personal. It is his inadequacies that have brought this about, in mho. That man is tearing us apart and I am so unhappy about it all. Sadly there is little I can do about it but I shall definitely be voting, as shall my family and friends who feel the same.
I feel so helpless about all this.

Thanks Grandmanorm. It'll be good when the referendum is done and dusted and everyone knows where they stand - and hopefully we'll all still be together.

What annoys me most, is that my SiL,- english, but living in mallaig gets a vote, but I, a scot, living in England, won't, even though a yes vote means i lose my british citizenship...

HollyDaze, the idea of DevoMax, as it was known was to give us more power over, for example, raising and spending our own taxes and having more responsibility even over things like the lowering of blood alcohol limits permitted to drivers - currently reserved to Westminster - without leaving the United Kingdom.

Ana and POGS, it seems that if we want more control over our own affairs without leaving the UK you make snide remarks like "gain without pain" but if we want to leave, that's wrong too.

It's people like Boris Johnston who think that we are "subsidy junkies" in spite of the fact that money slides down to the South-East corner. However, wishing to raise our own taxes isn't right either. Hey ho.

There is nothing personal against anyone in my wish to live in an independent Scotland Nfk. I have no intention of turning my back on my much-loved family and friends in England, any more than I would if they lived in Ireland (and it's easier to visit them in England).

Riverwalk, I'm not the only person here who is ashamed that we now have a UKIP MEP. Very disappointing.

With and to all GNers on all sides of all borders.